Moti Mahal (Barry Road)

Moti Mahal — “Moti Mahal I” on its own website — is a family-style North Indian restaurant on NW Barry Road in the Northland, the original of two Kansas City rooms owned by Jorabar “Jay” Shokar. It opened in late September 2013 a few blocks away in a former Indian restaurant’s space on NW Prairie View Road, with a menu modeled on the Korma Sutra restaurants Shokar was already a partner in, and moved to its current address by 2017. It has no connection to the Delhi chain Moti Mahal Delux. Expect a long menu of tandoori, kormas, vindaloos, goat specialties and multi-course family dinners, and Tuesday–Sunday lunch and dinner service; it was a Best Take-Out finalist in The Pitch’s Best of KC 2025.

Description

Moti Mahal sits on the south side of Barry Road in Kansas City’s Northland, in the orbit of the Zona Rosa shopping center — where the larger and glossier Swagat has been the district’s Indian anchor for years.¹² The website’s pitch is plain: “An Authentic Indian Restaurant serving two locations in Kansas City,” dishes “made to order based on how spicy or mild you prefer,” vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus, a kids’ menu, takeout, “only fresh, healthy ingredients” and no MSG.³ Both rooms are closed on Mondays.⁴

The menu is long and traditional. Starters run from mulligatawny, tomato and coconut soups through samosas, alu tikki, onion bhaji and a “Moti Mahal Platter” of six kinds of fritter; the house Moti Mahal Korma is a mixed-vegetable dish with cashews and raisins; seafood comes in korma, vindaloo, tikka masala, saag and makhani versions; the tandoor turns out chicken, tikka, shrimp and a mixed grill; and there are separate chicken, beef, lamb, goat (bone-in) and biryani sections, a dozen breads, and desserts of gulab jamun, carrot halwa, mango kulfi and badam kheer.⁵ The signature Moti Mahal Biryani mixes “all of the above” — lamb, chicken, shrimp and fish.⁵² Vegetarian and non-vegetarian family dinners for two, three or four cover starters, several curries, rice, naan and dessert.⁵

Reviewing the restaurant two months after it opened, The Pitch’s Charles Ferruzza found the room “no one’s idea of Bollywood” but the pakoras “pretty terrific,” praised a chicken goa curry “blanketed in a fine tomato-and-coconut cream sauce” and the saffron-scented biryanis, and faulted the mildness of the “hot” dishes and a greasy naan.² Twelve years on, Pitch readers made it a Best Take-Out finalist in the 2025 Best of KC ballot, and KCUR listeners put it on their November 2025 list of the metro’s best South Asian restaurants.⁶⁷

Ownership and history

Jorabar “Jay” Shokar is the owner; the same personal e-mail address is published for both locations.¹⁴ When he opened Moti Mahal in 2013 he was already “a partner in the Westport location of Korma Sutra,” part of the small local Korma Sutra family whose surviving room is Korma Sutra in Lenexa, and The Pitch noted that Moti Mahal “offers a menu similar to the one served at the Korma Sutra restaurants.”¹ Asked what the name meant, Shokar told Ferruzza it had a meaning but he was not sure what it was: “Perhaps if you go online.”¹ (Moti Mahal — “pearl palace” — is also the name of the historic Delhi restaurant credited with butter chicken; the Pitch was explicit that this Kansas City business “has no connection to the international chain, Moti Mahal Delux.”)¹

The restaurant opened about two weeks before October 7, 2013 at 8140 NW Prairie View Road, in the strip behind the Motel 6 best known for Dirk’s Sports Bar & Grill, taking over the space, sign and much of the decor of Saffron, an Indian restaurant that had opened there a year earlier and closed in early 2013.¹ At opening it ran a daily lunch buffet and had applied for a license to serve Indian beer and wine.¹ By June 2017 it was operating at its present address, 7111 NW Barry Rd; the exact move date is not documented.⁸ Its Westport sibling, the former Korma Sutra at 4113 Pennsylvania, had been renamed Moti Mahal by December 2016 and is now branded Moti Mahal II.⁹⁴ The order-online domain and menus are shared across both rooms.¹⁰

Links

• Website: https://kcmotimahal.com/
• About: https://kcmotimahal.com/aboutus.php
• Online ordering (first-party): https://barryrd.ordermotimahal.com/ · locations hub: https://www.ordermotimahal.com/locations
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motimahalkansascity/ (not verified as official)

Menu

Last verified: 2026-08-28 · Source: the restaurant’s own online-ordering site (barryrd.ordermotimahal.com), which lists dine-in business hours alongside the menu · Confidence: High. Transcribed with the restaurant’s own spellings; all entrées “served with white basmati rice.”⁵

Appetizers

• Mulligatwany Soup ($3.95) · Fresh Tomato Soup ($3.95) · Moti Mahal Chicken Soup ($4.95) · Coconut Soup ($4.95)
• Veggie Samosas (2) ($6.95) · Alu Tikki (2) ($5.95) · Onion Bhaji ($6.95) · Chicken Samosas (2) ($6.95) · Veggie Pakora (5) ($6.95) · Chicken Pakora ($7.95) · Paneer Pakora ($7.95)
• Moti Mahal Platter — veggie samosa, paneer, chicken, vegetable, lamb and shrimp pakoras ($12.95) · Papadam (5) ($3.99) · Garden Salad ($4.95) · Indian Salad — green chili, red onion, lemon ($1.95)

Family dinners

• Vegetarian: two persons ($49.95) · three ($70.95) · four — paneer pakoras, baingan bharta, mutter paneer, chana aloo, bindi masala, rice, garlic-and-onion naan, kheer ($86.95)
• Non-vegetarian: two — chicken samosas, lamb saag, chicken tikka masala, rice, naan, gulab jamun ($52.95) · three ($76.95) · four — fish pakoras, lamb karahi, goat tikka masala, chicken tikka saag, chicken curry, rice, naan, gulab jamun ($96.95)

Vegetarian specialties

• Mutter Paneer ($16.95) · Saag Paneer ($16.95) · Bainghan Bharta ($16.95) · Okra Do Piazza ($16.95) · Yellow Dal ($16.95) · Chana Aloo ($16.95) · Gobi Keema ($16.95) · Dal Makhni ($16.95) · Mushroom Mattar Makhani ($17.95) · Vegetable Kofta ($17.95) · Paneer Tikka Masala ($18.95) · Moti Mahal Korma — house mixed vegetables with cashews and raisins ($18.95)

Seafood

• Shrimp Saag ($17.95) · Shrimp Korma ($18.95) · Shrimp Vindaloo ($18.95) · Shrimp Tikka Masala ($18.95) · Fish Makhani ($18.95) · Fish Saag ($18.95) · Fish Vindaloo ($18.95) · Fish Korma ($19.95)

Tandoori specialties

• Tandoori Chicken ($17.95) · Chicken Tikka ($18.95) · Tandoori Shrimp ($18.95) · Moti Mahal Mixed Grill — chicken, seekh kabob, shrimp, fish ($20.95)

Chicken · Beef · Lamb · Goat

• Chicken: Tikka Saag, Bhoona, Dansak, Muglai, Goa Curry ($16.95 each) · Vindaloo ($17.95) · Korma, Butter Chicken, Tikka Masala ($18.95 each)
• Beef: Curry, Vindaloo, Saag ($17.95) · Masala, Korma ($18.95)
• Gosht (lamb): Curry, Vindaloo, Saag ($17.95) · Masala, Korma ($18.95)
• Goat (bone-in): Kadai, Tikka Saag, Curry, Vindaloo ($17.95) · Makhani Masala ($18.95)

Biryani

• Chicken ($17.95) · Vegetable ($17.95) · Lamb ($18.95) · Shrimp ($19.95) · Fish ($19.95) · Moti Mahal Biryani — “all of the above” ($20.95)

Breads, relishes, desserts, drinks

• Naan ($3.95) · Roti ($3.95) · Garlic, Mint, Pishwani, Onion Kulcha ($4.25 each) · Chilli, Cheese, Garlic & Onion Naan ($4.95) · Potato & Pea Paratha ($5.95) · Chapati (2) ($4.95) · Basmati Rice ($3.99+)
• Raita ($2.99+) · Mixed Pickles, Mixed Chutney, Mango Chutney ($2.95) · Dahi ($3.95)
• Gulab Jamun (2) ($4.95) · Carrot Halwa ($4.95) · Badam Kheer ($4.95) · Mango Kulfi ($3.95)
• Chai ($4.95) · Lassi ($3.95) · Mango Lassi ($4.95) · Mango Rose Lassi ($5.25) · Mango Shake ($4.95) · Bottled soda ($3.95)

Sources

Footnotes

1. Charles Ferruzza, “Moti Mahal takes over Saffron restaurant location,” The Pitch, 2013-10-07 — Confirms: opened “two weeks ago” at 8140 NW Prairie View Rd behind the Motel 6 (Dirk’s Sports Bar strip); Saffron opened a year earlier and closed earlier in 2013; “no connection to the international chain, Moti Mahal Delux”; owner Jorabar “Jay” Shokar, partner in the Westport Korma Sutra; menu similar to Korma Sutra; family dinners; daily lunch buffet 11–2:30, dinner 5–9:30; beer/wine license applied for; Swagat across the street in Zona Rosa; “Perhaps if you go online.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Charles Ferruzza, “Moti Mahal isn’t Bollywood-slick, but it isn’t bad,” The Pitch, 2013-11-07 — Confirms: “two-month-old”; Prairie View Road, In-A-Tub and Dirk’s neighbors; pakoras, platter, chicken goa curry, signature biryani (lamb, chicken, shrimp, fish); mild spice; lunch buffet; naan criticism; desserts. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Moti Mahal — official website, “About.” Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “Specializing in gourmet Indian food. Dishes are made to order based on how spicy or mild you prefer”; vegetarian and non-vegetarian, kid’s menu, takeout; “do not use MSG”; tandoori, lamb vindaloo, mango lassi. ↩

4. Moti Mahal — official website, home page. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: “MOTI MAHAL I, 7111 NW Barry Rd, Kansas City, MO 64153, Tel (816) 746-8000, Fax (816) 746-8001, Email jorabar123@yahoo.com”; “MOTI MAHAL II (Formerly Korma Sutra), 4113 Pennsylvania Ave”; hours Moti Mahal I Tue–Sun lunch 11–2:30, dinner 5–9, Monday closed; “serving two locations in Kansas City”; Grubhub and ordermotimahal.com links; Facebook icons. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Moti Mahal (Barry Rd) — first-party online ordering. Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: address and phone; business hours Mon closed, Tue–Sun 11–2:30 and 5–9; carryout/delivery to 8:45; every item and price in the Menu section. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. The Pitch — Best of KC 2025 results portal, “Best Take-Out.” Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: Moti Mahal listed under “Other finalists” (location not specified). ↩

7. Brian Ellison and Halle Jackson, “Food recs: Kansas City’s best Indian and South Asian restaurants,” KCUR Up To Date, 2025-11-15 — Confirms: Moti Mahal in the listener-recommendation list. ↩

8. Mid-America Mensa, “Ethnic Eats Travelogue” (dinner-group log). Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: entry “Jun 2017 – Moti Mahal – 7111 NW Barry Road, KCMO,” placing the restaurant at its current address by June 2017. ↩

9. Allen P, “Just a name change. Korma Sutra is now Moti Mahal,” Tripadvisor review dated 2016-12-06 — Confirms: Westport rename by December 2016. Provisional (user review). ↩

10. Moti Mahal — “Restaurant Locations” (ordermotimahal.com). Retrieved 2026-08-28 — Confirms: Barry Rd (7111 NW Barry Rd, 816-746-8000) and Westport (4113 Pennsylvania Ave, 816-931-7775) with separate ordering subdomains. ↩